Category Archives: For Heart and Mind

Innovative Efforts Helping People Heal

Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) is a frontline concern in our city; with close to one thousand new units desperately needed. Political backing and funding are lining up at all three levels of government to fill this critical gap in our response to prevent and end homelessness. These facilities are meaningful and effective solutions; provide safe and supportive community for people carrying some of the most difficult and complex burdens; barriers that continually jeopardize their health and their ability to retain work and housing. For these folks, a PSH facility is a space to find healing, hope and community.

But as efforts ramp up to build these facilities, questions abound: What might this look like? How will it fit into the local neighbourhood? What will be the impact be on the local community?

Today’s PSH story feature is Westwood Manor; located in the Westwood community, east of the old municipal airport. A few years ago, the Mustard Seed purchased and renovated a small ageing apartment building in the Westwood Community. It was fairly run down, and an eyesore in this mature neighbourhood. Today, this newly renovated facility is home and supportive community for twenty people with a range of complex needs, including drug and alcohol addictions, trauma and mental health barriers like schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, and chronic depression.

Westwood Manor is rated as a fairly high acuity PSH. That means they have some higher needs folks living there. As with all PSH, supports are located on-site; including 24-hour staffing. Westwood Manor is also a harm-reduction facility, which means that a person’s housing is not dependent on maintaining their sobriety or abstinence. Tenants have access to sterilized needles and other supplies that will allow them to use safely.

Mustard Seed owns the building, but staffing ratios and operating dollars come from Homeward Trust, with people referred through the Coordinated Access System; that links all such efforts across Edmonton.

A Kitchen Space in one of the apartments

A priority in this facility is the creation of intentional community for their residents; not only within the facility but in the local neighbourhood as well. The lack of community and healthy relationship has long been recognized as a root cause of both addiction and mental health challenges. Landon Hildebrand, the facility manager notes that they have seen exciting change already, with significant health improvements. He says, “Joy, community, attachment…when we provide these things, the addictions have less appeal.””

He notes that mental health concerns are present in every community, but are more raw and hyper-realized in the most vulnerable. The ability to hide it is just not there.

Their efforts at providing community include building a relationship with local neighbours. Westwood staff approached the Westwood Community League to learn about getting more involved, and they were welcomed with open arms. The Community League provided them with a family membership to cover all their residents, and now they are able to participate as volunteers and as full members in community league gatherings.

Westwood Manor staff also supported the creation of a resident’s committee (much like a condo board) that had authority to consider and respond to concerns. Staff agreed to take all new policy or rule changes to this committee for their consideration. This new way of doing things changed how residents related to staff and how they thought about their home. It prompted a sense of ownership and responsibility in the facility; prompting greater care for the space, the grounds, and each other. They want their home to be a warm, safe, and healthy environment. Residents in this kind of leadership role have even helped resolve interpersonal conflicts. It’s been a win, win, win for everyone! Landon credits the success of this kind of approach as a direct counter to the myth that people in PSH can’t make good decisions. “The more authority and leadership we give to our folks, the better they do.”

Westwood’s community-building efforts are a little tricky on some fronts, particularly as they have very little in the way of gathering space to hang out together. When a suite is empty, the staff will often transform it into a place to hang out, and the office is one place people stop in to chat constantly. They could also use a secure space where they can have those private and secure conversations, coaching, training, and supports.

But things get much easier in the summer, when they can host outdoor BBQs and feasts, and invite the neighbours. They also plan to start a community garden this coming year that they hope will promote natural connection between residents and local neighbours.

Is their approach successful? Landon shares the story of one gentleman whose almost daily ritual was being out panhandling for long hours, stuck in alcohol and substances. He would get dropped off by EPS almost daily and carried back to his unit. Now he is there at 3:00 everyday to hang out with the staff during shift change; so he can chat with both those going out and those coming in. He’s also working to start a local snow shovelling business, and because he is a community league member is able to share some of his posters on the local bulletin board and in the community hall.

Certainly not everyone succeeds, and evictions happen occasionally. Concerns around safety and difficult behaviors are usually the reason someone has to be removed. Unfortunately, there are not many places for people to go if they are evicted. The shortage of PSH in Edmonton means that few facilities are available and equipped to manage and care for people with more difficult behaviors.

Westwood Manor’s story illustrates the value and effectiveness of Permanent Supportive Housing as a meaningful and effective solution. She provides a place of healing, home, safety and stability for some of our most vulnerable people. And the efforts by her residents and staff are a lesson in the powerful need we all have for a community where we participate and can take responsibility in shaping.

Based on an Interview with Landon Hildebrand, A Registered Psychologist, Serving as Director of Housing and Clinic development.

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For the first time on November 22, 2017 the Government of Canada formally began speaking about housing as a human right. While this has been recognized by the international community for some time, this marked an important recognition of the obligation we have as a country to ensure everyone has a safe and decent place to call home.

To unpack some of the implications and meaning of this recognition, I sat down with Jim Gurnett, a longtime housing advocate and promoter of housing as a human right. Here’s some of what he shared with me:

“Human rights are always fuzzy and hard to pin down. All human rights today are based on UN declarations. The problem is that they don’t compel any nations to do something. They simply state an obligation.”

“With housing it gets more complicated. The rights language gives us a way of thinking about housing, but not a black and white pathway to answers about what governments or communities can do. Even if Canada signs on to this obligation, what are the measurables of whether that right is being satisfied or not? The amount of money you have as a state can make it impossible to do much.”

“It also doesn’t directly feed into legal obligation. For example, Ontario courts have noted of some other rights, that even if something is a right, it’s not something we can enforce. A legal obligation can materialize if there becomes Canadian legislation to enforce housing as a right. Our Prime Minister hinted at that possibility in his November 22 announcement, but it was very vague. Moving forward, the Government will be considering what that might mean. Currently there is no legisltation in action that you could bring to the human rights commission to say ‘my right to housing has been violated.'”

“But here’s what I like about it. It makes us uncomfortable with the fact that some people don’t have this basic need met, and gets us exploring how we can work to resolve that. It gets us talking about the fact that we are not doing a good job. If a nation has homelessness, it is not doing enough. It gets us talking together about why some people don’t have the help they need.”

As I concluded this conversation with Jim, I came to the understanding that human rights language serves to remind us of our obligations as citizens of earth; obligations that the world has said together are critical and necessary. Obligation to protect freedom of speech and religion, peaceful assembly and association, to combat slavery, and to provide each other with basic needs like food, water and yes, adequate housing (Article 25 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

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Elizabeth and Richard’s [Welcome Home] participant, Dustin has struggled for many years with depression and an addiction to alcohol. When they first started meeting together, he struggled to keep their appointments, wondering if his volunteers were going to judge him because of his addiction. It was hard for him to believe that they really enjoyed his company, and he was often very quiet and withdrawn.

After many months, Dustin began to attend some of the program functions with Elizabeth and Richard, and found that he really enjoyed meeting others from Welcome Home. He felt accepted for who he was, which helped him to develop more self-confidence.

Recently, Dustin took a big step, and went into detox. As is often the case for those with a serious addiction, he had a relapse soon after getting home. However, instead of feeling ashamed and spiraling into depression, he called Elizabeth, and let her know. His willingness to share this part of his journey with his volunteers demonstrates the amazing level of trust that they have built together. Elizabeth and Richard reassured Dustin that they were still there for him, and encouraged him to try again when he felt ready.

Since that relapse, Dustin has applied to a longer-term treatment program, which will help him to address both his addiction and his mental illness. He continues to look forward to the next Welcome Home social, and knows that he has found true friends to journey with him through the many ups and downs of his recovery.

Volunteer with Welcome Home!

One of the biggest reasons people struggle or fail as they come out of homelessness into housing is loneliness. Welcome Home assembles and trains a small team of volunteers to walk with someone as a friend. This is a one-year commitment to go for coffee, go bowling, take long walks, to encourage and pray for a fellow human being on a tough stretch of the road. ​To find out more information about volunteering contact the Welcome Home Coordinator at 780-378-2544.https://www.cssalberta.ca/Our-Ministries/Volunteer-Mentoring-Support

“When I talk to my indigenous neighbours, they express their concern that everybody seems to be watching their house.”

Fear and suspicion over concerns related to race, class or culture often show up in our communities, even if they are consciously unwanted and rejected in hearts and minds. What can be done to overcome this unwelcome undercurrent at play in our communities? How can we find our way to healthy relationships with local neighbours, especially when there are barriers between us?

CRIHI recently had the opportunity to visit End Poverty Edmonton’s Indigenous Circle to seek their wisdom and ideas on how people can pursue practices of reconciliation in their local neighbourhoods.

Here were some of their insights and observations:
“It takes work… give and take from both.” As with all relationships, it can be complicated. Efforts to connect may not always go smoothly. It may require some commitment on both sides to say this is important and to give it the time and attention it needs.

There are some communities that are thriving already on this front! One member of the circle shared her experience of a great relationship with her neighbours. They talk over the fence; shovel each other’s walks (even racing to see who gets there first); weed each other’s gardens and share vegetables; and keep an eye on each other’s places when someone goes away. People know and support each other.

But others had a very different experience… of local neighbours being cold and unkind. Another shared the experience of being followed around in a store.

What can people do to build relationship with local neighbours?

When you are going into a new community, “look for kind people!”

“Become Colour-brave! Start a conversation and hear my story. See me as a Cree man, who has been through a lot and struggled… And let me hear your story of your life and your struggle.”

“Say Sorry!” Share your regrets at what has happened in the past and what another has faced. Sharing tears can be very healing.

Keep extending the welcome! Continue to reach out with an open hand. Treat people with kindness and respect.

Walk with each other and work together as Allies! Do things together. Go with each other to talk to a neighbour or to help someone. If just one person goes, it will be heard differently than if we go together.

And of course, respect each other as equals. Share food. Go for Coffee.

Reconciliation won’t always happen the same way or to the same degree between people, but even small steps in the right direction move us forward.

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Here in Edmonton, numerous Islamic communities work together to respond to the needs experienced within the Muslim community and beyond. How do they do that? IFSSA!

As with so many non-profit ventures, it all started when a few members of a community got together to help meet a need. At the beginning that need became obvious as low-income Muslim families struggled to gain access to healthy and halal food. So an uncle in the community opened up his basement and they began a food pantry and hampers to help people out. And of course, it grew from there. Starting in the early nineties in a basement, today they have three different facilities around Edmonton and 22 paid staff.

For the last several years, IFSSA has had three main areas of work.

Meeting essential needs like food and clothing. Last year, the Muslim community through IFSSA assisted more than 7000 families and distributed more than 640,000 pounds of food.

Emergency Rent help and financial counseling. Last year, IFSSA was able to provide more than $100,000 in emergency rent help to families in danger of losing their home. This assistance can prevent a family from experiencing a deeper crisis, and it provides the opportunity for IFSSA workers to help a family consider how they might improve their financial situation.

Fostering Healthy Families. “The Fostering Healthy Families program provides direct support services to family members and individuals affected by family violence in the immigrant community. IFSSA is committed to helping keep families together and free from abuse. Also to guide those that have been affected by violence in the family to heal, regain control and to feel safe in having a place to come to for help. A Muslim female provisional psychologist provides counselling services in the areas of trauma, self-esteem, marital discord, family mediation, depression and healthy relationships. The services are offered in a sensitive and knowledgeable manner with an understanding of cultural and Islamic aspects.” (http://www.ifssa.ca/services)

Alongside these three main areas, IFSSA also works with partners like the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers and Catholic Social Services to help new immigrants to Canada find their feet and integrate well in Canadian Society. They have been working with youth for many years through a program they call The Green Room; which seeks to create an “open space for youth to foster meaningful connections, grow, and serve the community, rooted in Islam and relevant to time and place.”

In the last few years, IFSSA has also identified affordable housing for large families as an area of high need, and has begun a partnership with Right at Home Housing Society to help create homes for low-income families. They hope to see some new units built in the next few years.

What fuels the heart of a ministry like IFSSA?The Islamic teaching of Zakat, one of the five pillars. It reminds all Muslims of their responsibility to care for their neighbours. Muslims from various communities see supporting the work of IFSSA as a way to obey this core teaching of their faith.

They are also fueled by a sense of identity grounded in the Quran. Omar Yaqub, chair of IFSSA’s board describes their brand identity as embodied by the phrase “Created to Serve.” He says, “It is a proper representation of our principles, a reminder of God’s verse within the Quran (3:110), “You are the best of the nations raised up for (the benefit of) men.” The phrase speaks to many dimensions. IFSSA is here to serve people both directly, and secondly, we as people, volunteers or staff with IFSSA were created with the purpose to serve others. Serving others is spoken of within the Quran as medicine, and it speaks to the need within; an inner void that is filled through helping others.”

Here’s a glimpse into some of the work they do: Amina’s story!

Amina* approached IFSSA in distress after having experienced physical, emotional and financial abuse from her husband. She was in need of intense emotional support, as well as assistance in understanding the lasting effects the trauma has had on her physical and mental health. She was assigned an outreach worker who began to meet with her regularly to begin the healing process. Amina received professional counselling and was also directed to additional social supports, such as legal assistance. After three years of ongoing support from IFSSA, Amina has now taken ownership of her life.

She is still reliant on social assistance but has found it insufficient for her and her children. After being denied eight times for Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) status, our staff intervened on her behalf through her local Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). After this, she was finally approved on her ninth attempt!

Through it all, Amina’s resilience, patience, and courage has been remarkable to everyone who has worked with her.

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From visit to visit, outreach workers want to build a relationship with people living rough. Through building a relationship you get to know the people and what they require.

A Place to Call Home: Edmonton’s Updated Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness lays out a variety of goals and action plans with the aim of ending and preventing homelessness in the City of Edmonton.

The first goal of the Plan is, End Chronic and Episodic Homelessness. The actions to achieve this goal are listed below:
1. Enhance the focus of crisis response services and facilities on permanent housing outcomes
2. Continue to evolve Housing First Programs for Maximum Impact
3. Develop permanent supportive housing and affordable housing across all neighbourhoods

The targets set to achieve the goal of ending chronic and episodic homelessness involve having all rough sleepers engaged through Coordinated Access and assertive outreach by 2018. The Plan also makes the following target: by 2020, no one staying in a shelter or sleeping rough will experience chronic homelessness (Homeward Trust, 2017). The purpose of this article is to determine how these two targets focusing on rough sleepers can become a reality by speaking with those who engage with this population on a daily basis.

2016 Homeless Count

According to the 2016 Homeless Count coordinated by Homeward Trust, out of the 1,753 individuals counted as experiencing homelessness, a total of 187 were classified as unsheltered. Out of these, 97 people were recorded as living in a makeshift shelter, 12 people in a vehicle, and 11 in another unsheltered location unfit for human habitation (Homeward Trust Edmonton, 2016).

Boyle Street Community Services

Outreach Services

Boyle Street Community Services’ outreach workers actively seek out vulnerable Edmontonians who may not have access to the programs. Outreach workers strive to find people in need, being those living in parks or on the street to help connect them to needed resources and supports. The organization provides basic needs such as food, housing, clothing, and medical support.

The outreach services include downtown outreach that links those living rough with programs. In addition, there is a city-wide outreach team that works with businesses, faith communities, and many others to help homeless individuals find affordable and adequate housing. In addition, the organization has a winter warming bus that runs from November to May. It is stocked with blankets and soup and actively seeks out the homeless in the City of Edmonton to provide crucial support during the winter months (Boyle Street Community Services, n.d.).

In 2016, Executive Director Julian Daly explained how his organization’s street outreach team worked with over 800 individuals sleeping outside in the river valley and city parks. Daly and colleagues have seen an increase of 43% of individuals camping in the river valley. Similarly, the number of people who use Boyle Street as their mailing address because they do not have a fixed address and are likely homeless has increased from 1,600 in 2015 to 2,220 in 2016 (Boyle Street Community Services, 2016).

How to reach rough sleepers in Edmonton.

An interview was conducted on August 23, 2017 with Doug Cooke, the Team Lead for Street Outreach at Boyle Street Community Services

Question 1: What is a rough sleeper?
“A rough sleeper is a homeless individual who sleeps outside, under tarps or tents, or those who make some form of shelter out of whatever materials they can find.”

Question 2: How does Boyle Street Community Services engage with rough sleepers?
“Street outreach workers make sure the people are in good shape, that they are not under medical distress and they are not experiencing any form of crisis at that moment. From visit to visit, outreach workers want to build a relationship with people living rough. Through building a relationship you get to know the people and what they require. After the first introduction, you may get a first name. When you start assisting someone, you can get them into medical appointments or getting them onto income support or introducing them into a housing program. The first goal is building a relationship and building trust.”

Question 3) What needs to be improved upon for the targets related to rough sleepers to be achieved?
“First having more outreach workers doing their job. It is also more about the accessibility of places to put people. There is a great push of getting people out of shelters and the river valley, but a lot of those people often have higher needs that will require some assistance with living, like someone checking in on them regularly to ensure they are keeping their apartments clean. There needs to be more funding for more apartments and programs that offer assistance and support beyond getting them a place to stay, but also ensuring they know how to take care of themselves, some people need this follow up support. Funding for affordable and supportive housing is lacking in addition to programs that help those who are living rough with mental health issues.”

Conclusion

For the targets outlined above to be achieved, there must be more directed funding into affordable and supportive housing models that will assist those previously sleeping rough to maintain their housing and to live independently. Ensuring that the most vulnerable Edmontonians do not experience chronic homelessness involves relationship building and forming connections based on respect, compassion, and patience. Funding for affordable and supportive housing needs to be improved upon to support more assisted living situations for those with more complex needs who require daily support.

By Heather Curtis, Research Coordinator
Edmonton Social Planning Council

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In October of 2016, Martina (once a teen parent needing help) shared her story at a workshop CRIHI hosted in the Riverbend/Terwillegar community.

“Thank you to [CRIHI] for inviting me to share some of my personal experiences and thoughts related to safe and affordable housing. I hope I can give voice to the thousands of Edmontonians who seek safe and affordable housing.”

My name is Martina Crory. I am 23 years old, a mother to my adorable 3-year-old son Jude, a third-year university student at MacEwan, and I was recently accepted into the honours program in political science.

I grew up living with my mom. She had few marketable skills and as a result we moved from Halifax to Edmonton hoping for more opportunities. Unfortunately, those hopes never came to be. We continued to live in poverty with little income and limited housing options. We moved around a lot and it never really felt like I had a home. As a young person growing up, it was chaotic and disruptive. Every time I moved I would have to leave some things behind or things would get lost moving. It was not a very stable way for a teenager to grow up.

When you don’t have stable housing, your life is not stable. At nineteen years, old I found myself pregnant; a single parent. If things were tough, I knew they were going to be tougher. I reached out to the Terra Centre for teen parents, and for the past three years they have been by my side providing support in so many ways.

My son Jude and I ended up living in a walk up off 107 Ave. My laundry would get stolen, there was always the smell of pot in the building. It was noisy, and there was nowhere for kids to play outside. This is not what I wanted for Jude. I knew the risks of these environments. I looked around for a better safe place for us to live, but the rents were beyond my reach.

Although that was a challenge, what seemed even more challenging in finding decent safe and affordable housing were the assumptions and judgements that I faced as a young single parent. Landlords and the general public did not see me as a young parent with potential and capabilities; they saw me as a reckless, irresponsible and inadequate mom; nothing further than the truth.

It was a difficult time. I applied for subsidized housing with Capital Region Housing, but with a two-year wait list I felt so defeated. Terra had just started a new housing partnership with Brentwood Family Housing Society and I was accepted.

When I first went to see what was to be my new home, I was speechless. It was in a quiet community with other families. It had playgrounds, and my townhouse had a washer and dryer. This was like a dream come true for me. When I moved in, it was the first time I could remember that it felt like it was home. Because of the subsidy, Brentwood offers, it was affordable, based on my student income. I started to feel like there was hope. I started to believe I could pursue my dreams of graduating from University. For the past two years, I have been living in safe and affordable housing. Because of that, I have been able to make great gains in reaching my goals.

I am proud of my academic accomplishments, of raising a well-adjusted, happy and healthy child. I feel like I am part of the community and I am getting ahead. I am even the proud owner of a ‘mom car.’ I can afford it because of subsidized rent. It may not look pretty, but if I need to take Jude to the hospital at 2:00am I can do that. I can drive him to his skating lessons. I can spend more quality time with him; saving more than two hours a day from riding the bus; time I can spend with him.

Affordable housing gives me security and options. I don’t have to choose between rent and good food for Jude. We never owned a home growing up, or had much stable housing. I think life would have been much different if we had. I dream of owning my own home one day, and I know pursuing my educational goals will help me to achieve that. Having affordable housing today is helping me to reach that goal. I know that subsidized housing will not always be necessary; but I am grateful that I have been able to benefit from it.

As you spend time today listing about affordable housing and the people who need this support, please consider the following:

People who need affordable housing have goals; I don’t think most want to have a subsidy.

We want to give our kids a home and provide them with stability and opportunity.

If you have children, what we want for our children is no different than what you want for your children.

We want to give back, not just take; affordable housing can help make that happen.

We need more people to care about our community; what kind of community are we cultivating for our children and what we can teach our children about inclusion.

Thank you for taking the time for this discussion today and caring about our community.

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A Frontline Hospitality Story

On a cold early spring day in March, my co-worker and I were doing one of our usual routes in the Crisis Diversion van, when I saw a homeless community member who was trudging down the sidewalk with his shopping cart of belongings. As he bumped his cart across the street, his sleeping bag slipped off unbeknownst to him. Knowing that he would need it for the cold night ahead – a sleeping bag being a sign that he most likely slept outside rather than harbouring in a shelter for the night – I asked my co-worker to pull around the block so that I could dash out, get the sleeping bag, and return it to its owner.

That was how I met Theo, and had the honour of hearing some of his story. I was right, he does sleep on the street. The shelter was not his cup of tea. Too many people. A good place to catch a virus as you lay side by side in a large open space with dozens of others. Too chaotic. High chance of being roughed up. At least in the alley where he made his bed he had his own space. Theo at once struck me as a gentle soul, as he thanked me with kind words for returning his sleeping bag. He was hungry, and had missed dinner at Hope Mission. Though it didn’t really matter, as he was only able to keep down soup and other liquids. He shared with me that he was in the late stages of colon cancer, his thin, frail figure giving away just how progressed the cancer was.

I asked my usual question, “Are you on any lists for housing?” He had put his name in with Homeward Trust, but that had been a couple years already. “Let’s look into that,” I suggested. “You can check in with housing at Boyle Street. I’ll check in as well tomorrow,” as it was Sunday. We looked for him later that night to bring him some soup, but he was not to be found in his usual sleeping spot.

On Monday I stopped in at Boyle Street’s Housing Department and spoke with the manager. She was very empathetic towards Theo’s situation and managed to change his status in the database to note the urgency in finding him housing. We agreed that it was only human to be able to die enveloped in care rather than spending your last days on earth in a back alley. It was what Theo told me he wanted as well. Sometimes we as workers have ideas of how things should be, without thinking of what the community member actually wants. The housing manager also put in a phone call to Homeward Trust. Later that day we stopped in at Bissell Centre, as that was another place Theo frequented, and found that he had a worker there. So we asked her to keep an eye out for Theo as well.

Within that same week I was contacted by both the manager of Housing at Boyle Street and a Homeward Trust worker with news that they were casting a wide net around Edmonton’s social service organizations to find Theo, and then at last that Theo had been spotted and was in the Housing office. I don’t know the end of Theo’s story, but I have great hope that because of all the folks asking that question, “Has anyone seen Theo?” he is housed and spending the last of his days warm and cared for, receiving meals as well as meds to control his pain. I am always grateful when I meet people who care for others as beloved children of the Creator, not as one of many, not as a case to be solved, but as a human being worthy of love and dignity.

Submitted by Heather Tigchelaar, a frontline worker with the 24/7 Crisis Diversion Team, under Boyle Street Community Services

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We’re all familiar with door-to-door support programs like Meals on Wheels, providing food security to people with mobility challenges. It turns out a similar approach is working for people coming off the street into housing. Let me introduce you to Housing First!

Housing First is a philosophy. It is a philosophy that’s part of Edmonton’s and Alberta’s respective Plans to End Homelessness. If you want someone to succeed at being housed, you need to give them the tools to remove the barriers they face. The first step is to provide housing, and then you can address life issues which may have led to homelessness in the first place.

But Housing First is also a program. It is a network of resources, programs and strategies that has taken root here in Edmonton to provide both housing and necessary supports to people in crisis. The basic thrust of the program is this: Identify a person’s needs. Provide them with appropriate housing. Then provide support workers to help them keep their housing, settle in, and support them in the work of moving forward. As of March, 2017, Homeward Trust, which oversees the Housing First program here in Edmonton has housed and supported 6,000 people.

How a person is housed depends on their needs. Most in the Housing First program are placed in market rental housing, which could be anywhere in the city. But as you will see in the chart below, not everyone needs the same level of support or care. So the program works to provide appropriate home and care tailored to each individual.

HOUSING FIRST The range of housing and supports

Rapid Rehousing (RR)

Intensive Case Management (ICM)

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)

Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)

case management

case management

clinical intervention

case management

Able to access clinical supports on their own.

Need in-home visits.

Chronic mental illness &/or addictions

On-site supports provided around the clock

Housing First team

Housing First team

Housing First team and visits from professional support like Occupational therapist, LPN, RN, Psychiatry

What kind of barriers do people generally face?
In addition to experiencing homelessness, people who can be served by a Housing First program may be facing a combination of barriers:

Mental Health: ie. major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia

Addictions: ie. alcohol, gambling, drugs

Broken relationships or loss: ie. Grieving the loss of a child, spouse, or parent or a broken marriage.

Mistakes in their past that have damaged their credit, or rental history, or resulted in a criminal conviction.

Trauma: ie. from violence or abusive relationships, from living on the street, as veterans of police or military, or intergenerational trauma from residential schools. Trauma is common to almost everyone coming into Housing First.

What does a Housing First team generally do?
Once a person has been assessed and Housing First is found to be the appropriate intervention, they are provided with a Housing First team. This team helps them find a place, get settled, and supports them as they move forward. The team will go with them to look at different apartments, and help get everything arranged; be there for moving day; take them to Find (Homeward Trust’s social enterprise that provides essential furnishings to people moving out of homelessness through the Housing First program; findedmonton.com) to get set up with initial furniture, start-up food, cleaning supplies, basic tools.
Then depending on what a person needs, members of the team will visit regularly. It could be as many as two day a week for the first few months.

How does Housing First help people move forward?
From beginning to end, every part of this program is voluntary. It is client-centred with self determination of the client, key. The moment you walk into someone’s living room and tell them what to do, you create a wall: usually impenetrable. But if you ask someone what they need to move forward, they are going to know. The Housing First team works with the person to make a plan and connect with appropriate resources.
The program works to help overcome barriers, but the choices of participants must be honoured. The team must give someone the dignity of failure: to make their own decisions and to learn from those decisions.

What kind of challenges do people face?

Negative messages. As participants are welcomed into the program, they receive a lot of messages from the mainstream: suggesting that they are not deserving of housing because they haven’t worked for it, or judging them for their addictions.

It’s a mountain! When people first move in, things go really well. Then the hard work begins of confronting barriers; many of which are very, very difficult. There can be a lot of stumbling. “The Housing First worker has to be a guide through the hard work and show the payoff at the end. But what is amazing is how strong some folks are! The trauma can be so heavy, but folks learn so much and connect in a finite amount of time. It is like climbing a mountain, but they do it and it is amazing!” says Renee Iverson

Building a new network of support. When someone is moving from a life that’s entrenched on the streets into the life of a housed person, there’s a change with the way someone views community. It can be a huge task rebuilding a positive community of support. For example, Welcome Home is a program designed to address this challenge by matching a team of volunteers with a participant to go for walks, share a meal, go bowling, and to be there as a friend. Click here for more information on how to volunteer https://www.cssalberta.ca/Our-Ministries/Welcome-Home

How does a person apply for Housing First?
Coordinated Access is centralized intake. People can call or visit Homeward Trust’s partnering agencies. There is “no wrong door” approach to what agency they can visit. Most people who experience homelessness in Edmonton will never require a Housing First intervention. For those that do, centralized intake will be able to route them to the appropriate Housing First teams.

Here is a link to a page on CRIHI’s website with some key contact numbers including access to Housing First: http://wp.me/P20ewB-o6

Article by Mike Van Boom, based on an interview with Renee Iverson from Homeward Trust

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It all started with a request for sidewalk chalk.

My family was walking the few blocks home after church one Sunday afternoon, when my four-year-old daughter asked my wife to have some sidewalk chalk from her purse. She then proceeded to begin drawing arrows all down the sidewalk.

After a while, we asked her about why she was drawing these arrows, and she said to us, “so people can find our house!”
“Oh!” we said. And what’s happening at our house?
(Parent’s note: We were planning a nice quiet afternoon as it was our last day with Nana, who was visiting from Ontario)
“We’re having a tea party!” said she.
“Oh really! And where are we having this tea party?”
“On the sidewalk!”

So, as happens regularly with parents raising young children, our plans for a chilled afternoon with Nana were hijacked by an exciting new idea from the mind and heart of our child.

Here’s what we did: We brought out a few chairs and a small table and set it up on the sidewalk at the foot of our driveway. We set out the tea. We knocked on a few doors to invite people who lived nearby, and for the next two and a half hours we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon chatting with our neighbours.

Our Italian neighbours from around the corner brought out some cookies to share. The eighty-year-old woman on the corner who had lived in this neighbourhood for over 60 years came out and told us stories; including how she raised her six kids in her little 650 square foot house. People walking their dogs stopped to visit, and we even had one or two homeless neighbours stop by for a cookie and some tea. It was a wonderful and beautiful experience.

Today, it is a reminder to me of what is possible with a little heart, imagination and courage. Poverty takes many forms and is in every community. Some of that poverty is relational; taking the form of loneliness and isolation. All of us find ourselves there sometimes. The answer to much of the poverty we experience is found when we experience real community together.

How does that community start? With a little hospitality! And hey, if my kid can do it, so can I!